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Archives Find past shows by date:  Complete archive
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March 20-26, 2006
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Monday, March 20
Handel passes the hat ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: George Frederic Handel (1685 – 1757): Organ Concerto in A Peter Hurford, organ; Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra; Joshua Rifkin, cond. London 430 569 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Handel's life and works ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1873—Russian-born American composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff (Gregorian date: April 1); 1918—German composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann, in Bleisheim; Deaths: 1812—Bohemian composer and keyboard virtuoso Jan Ladislav (Johann Ladislaus/Ludwig) Dussek (Dusik), age 51, in Saint Germain-en-Laye or Paris; 2000—American composer Vivian Fine, age 86, in Bennington, Vt., following an auto accident; Premieres: 1723 — Handel: Concerto in F (HWV 331), in London at the Drury Lane Theater (Gregorian date: March 31); 1739 — Handel: Organ Concerto in A (HWV 296a) as a novelty at a benefit performance of Handel's cantata "Alexander's Feast"; This concert was organized "for the benefit and increase of a fund established for the support of decay'd musicians and their families" (Gregorian date: March 31); 1748 — Handel: oratorio "Joshua," (see March 9); 1887 — d'Indy: "Symphony on a French Mountain Air" for piano and orchestra, in Paris at a Lamoureux Concert; 1894 — Rachmaninoff: symphonic fantasy "The Rock" (Gregorian date: April 1); 1898 — Dvorák: symphonic poem, "The Wild Dove," Op. 110, in Brno; 1914 — Butterworth: "The Banks of Green Willow" in London; 1929 — Bartók: String Quartet No.4, in Budapest, by the Waldbauer Quartet; 1956 — Barber: "Summer Music," Op. 31, at the Detroit Institute of Arts by the Detroit Chamber Music Society (principal wind players of the Detroit Symphony); Other: 1928—The New York Symphony and the New York Philharmonic Society unite to form the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York - now known as simply "The New York Philharmonic."
Tuesday, March 21
Schubert's Ninth ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828): Symphony No. 9 in C Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Kurt Masur, cond. Philips 426 269 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Schubert A Schubert timeline ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1685—German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach, in Eisenach; 1839—Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, in Karevo, Pskov district (Julian date: March 9); Deaths: 1934—German composer Franz Schreker, age 55, in Berlin; 1936—Russian composer Alexander Glazunov, age 70, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; Premieres: 1826 — Beethoven: String Quartet in Bb, Op. 130, in Vienna, by the Schuppanzigh Quartet; 1839 — Schubert: "Great" Symphony in C (old No. 9, now No. "7"), in a posthumous, heavily cut premiere performance by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn; 1860 — Brahms: Ballads Nos. 2-3, from Op. 10, for piano, in Vienna; 1904 — R. Strauss: "Sinfonia domestica," at Carnegie Hall in New York, with Strauss conducting; 1918 — Stravinsky: "Ragtime" for Eleven Instruments, in Morges; 1925 — Ravel: opera "L'enfant et les sortiléges" (The Child and the Spells), in Monte Carlo at the Grand Théatre; 1971 — William Mayer: "Octagon" for piano and orchestra, in New York City, by the American Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting, with William Masselos, piano; 1972 — David Amram: Bassoon Concerto, in Washington, DC, by the National Symphony, Antal Dorati conducting, with Kenneth Pasmanick the soloist.
Wednesday, March 22
Harbison's First ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: John Harbison (b. 1938): Symphony No. 1 Boston Symphony; Seiji Ozawa, cond. New World 80331 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On John Harbison ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1930—American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, in New York City; 1868—Scottish composer and conductor Hamisch MacCunn, in Greenock; 1943—American composer Joseph Schwantner, in Chicago; 1948—British composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, in London; Deaths: 1687—Italian-born French composer Jean Baptiste Lully, age 54, in Paris, following an inadvertent self-inflicted injury to his foot (by a staff with which he would beat time for his musicians) which developed gangrene; Premieres: 1963 — William Kraft: "Concerto grosso," in San Diego, Calif.; 1973 — Ginastera: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Indianapolis, with Hilde Somer as soloist; 1984 — John Harbison: Symphony No. 1, in Boston, with the Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting; 1985 — John Harbison: "Twilight Music" for horn, violin and piano, at Alice Tully Hall, by members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (David Jolley, horn; James Buswell, violin; Richard Goode, piano); 1997 — Zwilich: "Peanuts Gallery" (after the "Peanuts" comic strip characters by Charles Schultz) for piano and chamber orchestra, at Carnegie Hall in New York by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with soloist Albert Kim.
Thursday, March 23
Bartók's Violin Concerto ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: Béla Bart ók (1881 – 1945): Violin Concerto No. 1 Kyung-Wha Chung, violin; Chicago Symphony; Sir Georg Solti, cond. London 411 804 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Bartók ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1834—German composer, pianist and organist Julius Ruebke, in Hausneindorf, near Quedlinburg; 1878—Austrian composer Franz Schrecker, in Monaco; 1895—French-born American composer, painter and mystical philosopher Dane Rudhyar, in Paris; Premieres: 1731 — Bach: "St. Mark Passion" (S. 247, now lost) performed in Leipzig at Vespers on Good Friday; 1748 — Handel: oratorio "Alexander Balus" in London at the Covent Garden Theater; The event possibly included the premiere of Handel's "Concerto a due cori" No. 1 as well (Gregorian date: April 3); 1783 — Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 13 and final version of Symphony No. 35 ("Haffner"), at the Vienna Burgtheater, with composer as piano soloist and conductor; An earlier version of the symphony was performed in Salzburg at private concerts arranged by the wealthy Haffner family in the summer of 1782; 1792 — Haydn: Symphony No. 94 ("Surprise"), conducted by the composer, at the Hanover-Square Concert Rooms in London; 1828 — Beethoven: String Quartet in F, Op. 135 (posthumously, and almost one year to the day after the composer's death on March 26, 1827), in Vienna, by the Schuppanzigh Quartet; 1886 — Tchaikovsky: "Manfred" Symphony (after Byron), in Moscow (Julian date: Mar. 11); 1912 — Gliere: Symphony No. 3 ("Ilya Murometz") in Moscow (Julian date: Mar. 10); 1917 — Bloch: "Trois poèmes juifs" (Three Jewish Poems), in Boston, with the composer conducting; 1923 — de Falla: opera "El retrablo de maese Pedro" (Master Peter's Puppet Show) (concert version), in Seville at the Teatro San Fernando; 1935 — Barber: "Music for a Scene from Shelley," by the New York Philharmonic; 1939 — Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2, by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Willem Mengelberg conducting and Zoltán Székely as the soloist; A live recording of this premiere performance has been issued on both LP and CD; 1944 — Cowell: "Hymn and Fuguing Tune" No. 2 for strings, in New York on a WEAF radio broadcast featuring Henri Nosco and his Concert Orchestra; The first concert hall performance took place at Town Hall in New York on October 8, 1944, with the Daniel Saidenburg Little Symphony; 1945 — Copland (and 9 other composers): "Variations on a Theme by Eugene Goosens," by the Cincinnati Symphony; 1946 — Marc Blitzstein: "Airbourne Symphony," in New York City; 1962 — Irving Fine: "Symphony 1962" by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting; 1969 — Gene Gutchë: "Genghis Khan," by American Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting; 1999 — James MacMillan: "Cumnock Fair" for piano and strings, at Cumnock Academy by members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Other: 1703—Antonio Vivaldi becomes a Roman Catholic priest at age 25; 1721—Handel completes the composition of Act 3 of "Muzio Scevola," as part of a "competition" arranged by the directors of the Royal Academy of Music to settle the rivalry between their three house composers (Filippo Amadei composed Act 1, Giovanni Bononcinni Act 2, and Handel Act 3); Handel was deemed the victor in this "contest" (Gregorian date: April 3); 1729—J.S. Bach visits Coethen to perform funeral music for his former employer, Prince Leopold; 1743—London premiere of what is billed as "A New Sacred Oratorio" by Handel(Gregorian date: April 3); This was his "Messiah" which had its first performance in Dublin the previous year;
Friday, March 24
Bach's "Coethen" Concertos? ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750): Brandenburg Concertos The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Delos 3185 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Bach's life and music ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1740—American-born Moravian composer John Antes, in Frederickstownship, Pa.; Deaths: 1654—German composer Samuel Scheidt, age 66, in Halle; 1916—Spanish composer Enrique Granados, age 48, dies at sea returning to Europe from New York City when the S.S. Sussex is torpedoed in the English Channel by a German submarine during WWI; 1921—French composer Deódat de Sévérac, age 48, in Céret; Premieres: 1784 — Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 15 in Bb, K. 450, at the Trattnerhof in Vienna, with composer as soloist; 1860 — Joachim: Violin Concerto ("Hungarian"), in Hannover, Germany; 1868 — Brahms: Piano Quintet in f, Op. 34, in Paris, with pianist Luise Langhans-Japha, with an unidentified string ensemble; 1881 — Verdi: opera "Simon Boccanegra" (2nd version, with libretto revised by Boito), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala; 1924 — Sibelius: Symphony No. 7, in Stockholm, with the composer conducting; 1932 — Randall Thompson: Symphony No. 2, in, Rochester, N.Y.; 1941 — Shostakovich: incidental music for Shakespeare's "King Lear," in Leningrad, at the Gorky Bolshoy Dramatic Theater; 1949 — Panufnik: "Tragic Overture," in New York City; 1984 — Philip Glass: opera "Akhnaten," in Stuttgart, at the Wurttemberg State Theater, with Dennis Russell Davies, conducting; 1996 — Thomas Oboe Lee: "ART: arias and interludes" for string quartet, in Gassoon Hall at Boston College by the Artaria Quartet; 2001 — Chihara: "Songs of Love and Loss," by violist Geraldine Waltherthe and the 20-voice San Francisco Chamber Singers, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, Calif., directed by Robert Geary; Other: 1721—J.S. Bach dedicates his six "Brandenburg" Concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg, whose orchestra apparently never performed them.
Saturday, March 25
Shostakovich in America ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975): Symphony No. 5 USSR Cultural Ministry Symphony; Gennady Rozhdestvensky, cond. MCA 32128 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Dimitri Shostakovich ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1699—German opera composer Johann Hasse, in Bergedorf, near Hamburg; 1867—Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, in Parma; 1881—Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, in Nagyszentmiklós; 1882—English composer Haydn Wood, in Slaithwaite; Deaths: 1918—French composer Claude Debussy, age 55, in Paris; Premieres: 1724 — Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 182 ("Himmelskönig, sei willkommen") performed on the Feast of the Annunciation as part of Bach's first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24); 1725 — Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 1 ("Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern") performed on the Feast of the Annunciation as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25); 1734 — Handel: anthem "This is the day which the Lord hath made" (Julian date: March 14); 1874 — Brahms: "13 Variations on a Hungarian Song" for piano, in London; 1875 — Gilbert & Sullivan: one-act operetta "Trial by Jury" at the Royalty Theatre in London; 1879 — Dvorak: Symphony No. 5 in F, in Prague; 1881 — Dvorák: Symphony No. 6, with Prague Philharmonic, Adolf Cech conducting; 1939 — Villa-Lobos: "Bachianas Brasilieras" No. 5 for soprano and eight cellos, in Rio de Janeiro; 1943 — Edward Joseph Collins: Piano Concerto No. 3 in b, by the Chicago Symphony with Frederick Stock conducting and the composer as soloist; 1946 — Stravinsky: "Ebony Concerto" at Carnegie Hall, with the Woody Herman orchestra conducted by Walter Hendl; 1960 — Elliott Carter: String Quartet No. 2, in New York City, by the Juilliard String Quartet; 1965 — Jack Beeson: opera "Lizzie Borden," in New York City; Other: 1938—American premiere of Prokofiev: "Peter and the Wolf," by the Boston Symphony, conducted by the composer; 1949—Shostakovich (accompanied by KGB "handlers") arrives in New York for his first visit to America, for the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace, held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel; His anti-Western statements and criticism of Igor Stravinsky embarrass his American sponsors, including Aaron Copland, and later provided political fodder for the notorious Red-hunter, Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Sunday, March 26
Madeleine Dring ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: Madeleine Dring (1923 – 1977): Three Piece Suite Cynthia Green Libby, oboe; Peter Collins, piano Hester Park 7707 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Madeleine Dring's life and music ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1925—French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, in Montbrison; Deaths: 1566—Spanish composer and organist Antonio de Cabezón, age c. 56, in Madrid; 1827—German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, age 56, in Vienna; 1918—Russian composer Cesar Cui, age 83, in Petrograd (St. Petersburg); 1977—British composer, pianist and actress Madeleine Dring, age 53, in Streatham, London; Premieres: 1723 — J.S. Bach: "St. John Passion," at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig; 1735 — Handel: Organ Concerto Op. 4, no. 5 in London as an intermission feature during a revival performance of Handel's oratorio "Deborah" at the Covent Garden Theater (Gregorian date: April 6); 1827 — Rossini: opera "Moïse et Pharaon" (Moses and Pharaoh) at the Paris Opéra; This is the 3rd and French-language version of Rossini's Italian opera "Mosè in Egitto" (see March 3 and 7 above); 1943 — William Schuman: cantata "A Free Song" (after Walt Whitman), in Boston; This work won the first Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1943; 1958 — Henry Cowell: "Ongaku" a symphonic suite on Japanese themes, by the Louisville Orchestra. Robert S. Whitney conducting; 1958 — Lutoslawski: "Marche funèbre" (in memory of Béla Bartók), in Katowice, Poland; 1960 — Ralph Shapey: "Evocation" for violin, piano and percussion, in New York City; 1984 — Philip Glass: Act V ("The Rome Section"), from "The CIVIL warS," at the Rome Opera, Marcello Panni conducting; 1986 — Ned Rorem: "The End of Summer" for clarinet, violin, and piano, at Patkar Hall in Bombay (India), by the Verdehr Trio; 1998 — Zwilich: Violin Concerto, at Carnegie Hall in New York, by the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Hugh Wolff conducting, with soloist Pamela Frank; 2001 — Corigliano: "Mannheim Rocket," in Mannheim (Germany), by the Mannheim National Theater Orchestra; Other: 1828—Franz Schubert gives a concert of his own works in Vienna, to great success. |
